There is only one thing sad about this and that demonstrate again that the electorate is saddled with an unusually high proportion of crooks, spivs, fraudsters and shysters among the 1,400 or so self-centred busybodies that infest the two houses of parliament.
“The 65-year-old used the money to fund a series of trips to Europe, including one to judge a literary competition in Paris. The court heard that MacShane incurred "genuine expenses" but chose to recoup them by dishonest false accounting rather than through legitimate claims.”
Nobody would consider it sad if a any other well paid professional defrauded his employer to such a degree.
Furthermore, despite all the reports I have read suggesting that Mr MacShane will serve half of his six month sentence in prison, this is not correct. At present all prisoners serving determinate sentences are released at the halfway point. This is automatic and unconditional. But in addition the current “Home Detention Curfew” scheme allows virtually all prisoners sentenced to between four and twelve months to be released on licence after serving one quarter of their term. So Mr MacShane will be out at the beginning of February (or earlier if he spent any time on remand in custody). Not bad for embezzling £13k. It works out at about the same daily rate as Lord Hanningfield and his chums get for clocking into the House of Lords before promptly clocking out again and going home.